Villains
'Dr Von Goosewing' Von Goosewing is a mad scientist and vampire hunter, who is a spoof of Abraham Van Helsing. He is a goose, as his name suggests, and speaks in a German accent. Von Goosewing wears an outfit not unlike that of Sherlock Holmes with a pair of spats. Von Goosewing often flies a dirigible with 'VG' written on it. He pursues Count Duckula relentlessly, never able to comprehend that he is harmless. When not inventing some new machine to hunt vampires with, he relies on an old fashioned blunderbuss which is loaded with a wooden stake (although, curiously, it sometimes actually fires laser beams). He is a terrible scientist, often getting maimed by his own crack-pot inventions. He is also supremely unobservant, and often bumps into Duckula and converses with him for several minutes without realising to whom he is talking. Von Goosewing has an assistant (who never appears on screen) named "Heinrich". Von Goosewing often calls for Heinrich, and Heinrich is often blamed for Von Goosewing's mistakes. In the TV series, "Heinrich" seems to be just a figment of Von Goosewing's imagination, an imaginary friend, but the comic book version of the characters by Marvel reveal that Heinrich is actually his former assistant who is always complaining for his low wage. Von Goosewing mentions that Heinrich threatened to resign but is still with him. Apparently Heinrich quit, but his former employer failed to realise it. The Marvel comic books based on the show also add a supporting character to him: his niece Vanna, on whom Duckula has a crush. This affection is reciprocated and the two have a romance during the comic's run, much to Von Goosewing's chagrin; Goosewing pursues Duckula with greater fervour as he seeks to 'protect' his niece from him. 'The Crow Brothers' Four criminally inclined crows (Ruffles, Burt, Junior and an unnamed brother.) who are typically seen scaling the walls of Castle Duckula with the aid of climbing equipment. They are always seen hanging off one another with the use of bungee cords to climb the walls of whatever building they plan to scale. Their goal is to get at the treasure inside the castle, but they rarely make it to the top. (Also note that Junior was given a name, but was never called by his name on screen). The crows always wear masks. Ruffles wears a balaclava; Burt wears a longer balaclava; Junior wears a Peruvian chullo that seems to extend to his eyes; and the fourth crow brother wears a sock that covers his face entirely. The four brothers are led by the tallest crow, Ruffles, who often has plans that do not work. Duckula, himself, is always oblivious to the Crow's criminal intentions, and often enlists them in endeavours to become an entertainer. At one point they break into Castle Duckula while a play is being put on, and the Count needs fairies, toadstools and dwarves. The Crows' masculinity hilariously comes into play here, as they discuss their coming debut: "Toadstool, allright. Dwarf, allright. But I ain't going to be no bloomin' fairy!". 'The Egg' A supervillain egg with a grudge against anyone that is alive, because he was never able to hatch from his egg. Along with his insidious schemes and plans is a parrot with an Asian stereotype complexion known as Oddbeak (a play on the James Bond villain Oddjob), who is very careful not to use words with the prefix "Egg", as he knows that it will offend his master. For example, he cannot say "Exactly, master" because his phoney-bologna Asian accent makes the word sound like "EGGSactally" so he tries hard to say "HIS-actally" instead. 'Gaston and Pierre' A pair of French criminals who serve as occasional villains. Although they are both undeniably incompetent, the arrogant Gaston is ostensibly the brains of the outfit. Gaston is a tall, thin black stork, while Pierre is a stubby, short parakeet who sounds similar to Bluebottle from The Goon Show. The characters were adapted into non-bird form for yet another Cosgrove-Hall animated series - Victor and Hugo. 'The Phantom of the Opera and Cruel' A duo of characters who, at one point seek revenge on Count Duckula for foiling their plans. The Phantom is a tall, thin bird with the same mask worn by the original Phantom and dressed in dandefied clothes (complete with a cape), while Cruel (a parody of Peter Lorre) is a short, misshapen bird who acts as the Phantom's manservant. 'Morris the Strongman and Charlie the Clown' A pair of baleful circus performers who had a grudge on Duckula; both were bumbling (though Charlie was slightly less so) and Morris was the brawn of their misdeeds. 'The Pirate Penguins' A ruthless crew of piratical penguins who are hired by Count Duckula at one time, but this crew of seafarers also turn on Count Duckula when his antics crash their ship. All of the penguins are typical pirate stereotypes one of which is known as Mr. Mate and shouts that he will "bite their heads off!"